Need help choosing race & class (Starting at level 6)

[cainschwarz]

Looking for ideas on what to play.
Based around the other party members.

I am looking for Both a flavorful and decently strong build. I'm not the type to play a joke Character so nothing like that.

There are 3 current party members
There is a college of sword bard who actually reads the rules and understands the game. So he basically carries the party. He fights . He heals. And a few other things I can't think of at this moment. But he is the party leader.

Then there is a custom. wild sorcerer who Casting stat is her Intelgeince. (I do know she used spells Like sleep but the one combat she was in she got knocked out after trying to put an undead to sleep)

The third party member is an i
Half-Orc Open hand Monk
Who has trouble understanding her class features and the way the actions in combat work.

So far in the two combats situations they where in the bard took no damage thanks to knowing how to dodge / luck of rolls and using common since

And both Monk and the bard
Took heavy damage to point if being knocked down to less than 5 HP.

Sadly the monk and sorcerer don't read the rules to much and never truly understand everything there race & or class can do. So there potential is cut down.


I like a character build that can help with what we got missing on the battle map and be of help out of combat.

[RogueJK]

Sounds like you need both some extra frontline support as well as a way to assist (prop up) the less-experienced players.

A Divine Soul Sorcadin is a good mix of frontline melee and buffing/healing. And since you're starting at Level 6, you're basically already there as far as your Paladin levels go. Most will go Paladin 6/Sorcerer X.

Or maybe a Celestial Generalist Tomelock, for a bit of additional BA healing, Shilelagh+GFB/BB frontline melee, and EB switch-hitting?


If you'd rather not go the CHA-based route, perhaps something like a Shepherd Druid for some additional healing, battlefield control spells, and summoned meat shields to take some of the melee heat and run interference for the less experienced players.

Or a Twilight Cleric could be of assistance with frontlining, healing, buffing, and especially for propping up the others (thanks to their bonkers Twilight Sanctuary ability).

[PrinceOfMadness]

Looking at your party comp, you've got Charisma-based arcane casting more than covered, and your Monk should fulfill the Dex role (though it sounds like the player may struggle with it).

I would probably recommend a Cleric, Druid, or Artificer (DM allowing). All are fairly beefy and versatile and will help fill roles that your party isn't currently covering all that well. Go Druid if you want the versatility of Wild Shape, Cleric if you want to help keep your party going, and Artificer if you want ALL the magic items. Some directed suggestions:

Light Clerics have reactions to impose disadvantage at this level and have an AoE Channel Divinity that's decent damage.
Moon Druids dial Wild Shaping up to 11, giving you a pile of (effectively temporary) hitpoints and lots of versatility to choose how you want to approach scouting or combats
Battle Smith Artificers get a decently durable combat pet, can frontline really well, and offer your party a bucket of magic item support to make everyone better.

[Rukelnikov]

Maybe a Cleric? You can stand near the front thanks to good AC, you can buuff your allies and heal them post combat or pick em up during combat.

[chiefwaha]

Honestly, I think this party really needs some meat for the meat shield.

I'd think about fighter, polearm master and sentinel build would fit in nicely. Limited utility unfortunately, but should help with some combat deficiency.

Maybe a paladin of some sort instead, you could get some off healing to help out the bard. (maybe the paladin/divine soul multiclass proposed above, but I don't like overlapping into another player's class if possible)

I really think pushing that bard and monk to a secondary fighters, freeing them up to fill in where most needed is the way to go.

Otherwise, a designated wisdom caster would fit in extremely well.

[quindraco]

Looking for ideas on what to play.
Based around the other party members.

I am looking for Both a flavorful and decently strong build. I'm not the type to play a joke Character so nothing like that.

There are 3 current party members
There is a college of sword bard who actually reads the rules and understands the game. So he basically carries the party. He fights . He heals. And a few other things I can't think of at this moment. But he is the party leader.

Then there is a custom. wild sorcerer who Casting stat is her Intelgeince. (I do know she used spells Like sleep but the one combat she was in she got knocked out after trying to put an undead to sleep)

The third party member is an i
Half-Orc Open hand Monk
Who has trouble understanding her class features and the way the actions in combat work.

So far in the two combats situations they where in the bard took no damage thanks to knowing how to dodge / luck of rolls and using common since

And both Monk and the bard
Took heavy damage to point if being knocked down to less than 5 HP.

Sadly the monk and sorcerer don't read the rules to much and never truly understand everything there race & or class can do. So there potential is cut down.


I like a character build that can help with what we got missing on the battle map and be of help out of combat.

Are the monk and sorcerer at least attempting to fulfill their party roles? Is the monk punching people? Is the sorcerer casting spells?

If so, you have a bard who can use a scimitar or shortbow credibly, so ideally shortbow, and should be staying in the back with the sorcerer, and your monk needs backup. You need a tank. I recommend a peace cleric, although you could do strong work with a twilight cleric instead. Stacks well with bard, and since you're level 6, the emboldening bond can be used to teleport party members around to fix it when the two newbies make terrible choices.

For race, there are many options, but one of many is a mountain dwarf with starting statline WIS 17 CON 17 DEX 14 STR 10, then your level 4 ASI takes you to WIS 18 CON 18. Still, many many ways you can go there.

[XmonkTad]

I see suggestions for helping to cover the party's weaknesses by adding some tank-ability. Consider that you could build a bit of a stealthy party instead with a Trickery Cleric. If the Orc-monk is at least a bit sneaky, you can give the sorcerer advantage on stealth checks and just make your party stealthy instead. It'll open up exploration more.
Build would be Trickery 3/Thief 3 at this point, continuing thief from here on out. Race could be anything, but special mention to Air Gensai because of racial levitate and breathlessness.

[Aett_Thorn]

If you want to “cheat” a bit, and by that I mean choosing an option that I think a lot of people here view as a bit OP, a Twilight Cleric could work well. Especially if you focus on using spells and abilities that mainly help the other players. Giving them temp HP to keep them upright, using spells like Bless to add to their attack rolls or Faerie Fire to give them advantage on attacks could make them do things better, even if you’re not the flashy one in the group.

[jaappleton]

My opinion? Enemy action denial is always the way to go, when you don't have a clear path to take.

Enemies that are stunned, incapacitated, restrained, prone, etc. Anything that can be done to impose Disadvantage on their rolls, or outright deny their actions.

Many times this tactic is superior to doing damage. And in a party with less experienced players, being super-optimized in the damage per round category can breed resentment because they'll feel underpowered. Nobody gives the player a dirty look when they use an ability to render an enemy useless, though.

This is also better than healing. Healing is reactive. Damage prevention is proactive.

I know you already have a Bard, but to me, with Metamagic, a Sorcerer is top-tier when it comes to this. Twinning debilitating effects can end fights as quickly as they start. I greatly suggest Clockwork Soul as the origin. If you hop on YouTube, there's a fellow named TreantMonk who provides excellent, insightful breakdowns into darn near every subclass there is. I almost never recommend any particular persons content over another, but believe me when I say Chris (TreantMonk) has insight that is top-tier stuff. I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable, but I 100% fully admit he's several tiers above me with an understanding of the design of the game.

However, this sort of playstyle requires a particular style of player. You need to master the rules, specifically the conditions you can impose during combat. Restrained, grappled, etc. Once you know all the rules, you can use them to your advantage. And that's when you can, to a degree, dictate the flow of combat. I'd suggest printing out a cheat sheet regarding the combat conditions to have at the ready.

[Unoriginal]

Looking for ideas on what to play.
Based around the other party members.

I am looking for Both a flavorful and decently strong build. I'm not the type to play a joke Character so nothing like that.

There are 3 current party members
There is a college of sword bard who actually reads the rules and understands the game. So he basically carries the party. He fights . He heals. And a few other things I can't think of at this moment. But he is the party leader.

Then there is a custom. wild sorcerer who Casting stat is her Intelgeince. (I do know she used spells Like sleep but the one combat she was in she got knocked out after trying to put an undead to sleep)

The third party member is an i
Half-Orc Open hand Monk
Who has trouble understanding her class features and the way the actions in combat work.

So far in the two combats situations they where in the bard took no damage thanks to knowing how to dodge / luck of rolls and using common since

And both Monk and the bard
Took heavy damage to point if being knocked down to less than 5 HP.

Sadly the monk and sorcerer don't read the rules to much and never truly understand everything there race & or class can do. So there potential is cut down.


I like a character build that can help with what we got missing on the battle map and be of help out of combat.

A Rune Knight or Psi Warrior Figurer would help a lot .

Alternatively, a Rogue, a Forge Cleric or a Conquest Paladin.

A Githyanki Celestial Warlock can be awesome.

For flavorful species, aside from the Githyanki, I suggest Leonin, Tabaxi, or Lizardfolk. Goblins or Bugbeard can be fun too.

[Emongnome777]

... Bugbeard ...

I know what race my next Swarmkeeper Ranger is going to be. Thank you for that. :smallbiggrin:

Edit: To remain on topic, I'm thinking a front liner is the way to go. Ancestral Guardian Barbarian will help protect the party pretty nicely, but a melee cleric could be a good fit too. Forge or Tempest perhaps? If you use Tasha's floating ability score bonuses, most races are on the table, so go with what looks fun. If you pick Barbarian, consider ritual caster feat. It would give you some out of combat utility. Cleric has good out of combat spells, so you can find good out-of-combat usefulness easily.

[jaappleton]

I know what race my next Swarmkeeper Ranger is going to be. Thank you for that. :smallbiggrin:

Dwarf but their beard is all bees.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Maybe see if the Monk can swap to Long Death (given his recent brush with death), and you make a Fallen Aasimar Conquest Paladin? Get the Sorcerer to put Haste on the Monk, and he can use his normal action for Hour of Reaping then his Haste action to attack and still get his martial arts bonus action from attacking. Teamwork!

[Grod_The_Giant]

Paladin and Cleric have already been mentioned a few times, but how about Moon Druid? Open the fight with some battlefield control, then turn into a bear and tank.

[Odessa333]

I would second barbarian for this party. Depending on what is allowed at your table, a half-orc, Goliath, or something BIG to draw fire away from the others. The healer feat (or a feat to get goodberry) to be a 'shaman' type character to give a small amount of healing after combat. Paladin and Druid are solid choices here too, for the ability to heal and tank.

[KorvinStarmast]

Paladin
Oath of the Ancients.
Protection Fighting Style.
Sword and Board
Half Elf.

That's my suggestion.

[da newt]

If you want to go front line (a fine choice for this bunch), there are many ways to do it. Find the one that tickles your fancy.

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian is a fine choice and I'd recommend looking at a MC w/ Echo Knight for some interesting synergy and the Sentinel Feat too. I prefer Tasha's custom lineage for the extra feat at lvl 1.

I'd recommend Paladin as they tend to be able to fill the front line, tank and damage dealing rolls well while also adding healing, NOVA, and buffs too. A PAM pali w/ spear and shield is great (the extra attacks lets you SMITE more) or Revenent Blade for the same reason but different flavor.

Mostly I'd recommend you and the Bard sit down and think this all through. They are probably in the best position to offer good advice.

[kingcheesepants]

Paladin, Fighter, Druid, Cleric, Artificer, Barbarian. Lots of good ways to tank like your group needs. So ask yourself if you're more interested in playing a caster, a martial or something in between. Does wildshaping appeal to you more, or does smiting? Do you want to bring some summons or just keep it nice and simple with just you and the enemy? Depending on what you want to play you can do a lot of different things and help the group. The important thing for a tank is to make it so that the enemy doesn't hit his teammates. Whether that's by being a fighter and stopping enemies in their tracks with sentinel or by being a cleric and casting spirit guardians so that enemies can't move in, or by being a druid and summoning a bunch of animals and blocking the enemies progress, or by being a barbarian and being such a huge stack of HP and reckless attack that enemies will focus on you. There are lots of ways to go about it so just think of what you find fun and go with that.

Since you were specifically mentioning out of combat utility I would go with either artificer or a druid because they can tank and they have a lot of different options for out of combat as well. The artificer is a highly intelligent person who makes and uses magic (and sometimes magitech) items. They get a lot of tool proficiencies and expertise in their tools as well. They can give bonuses to their allies and make lots of different items that can help in a wide array of scenarios. They're also 3/4 casters with medium armor and shields and depending on the subclass heavy armor and Int based melee weapons as well. Druids are wise guardians of nature and can turn into all sorts of animals and summon animals and use a lot of different spells with good support and utility effects.

As for race I think we need a little more info. Does your DM allow all the races? For example monstrous races and setting specific races (Ebereon, Ravnica) or is it PHB only? Also are you rolling for stats or is it point buy? And are you using the customization rules that allow to assign the ability scores wherever you'd like or are you stuck with the original ability scores? Depending on the answers there are some races that are much stronger than others. Of note are Yuan-ti and Satyr. Both have Magic Resistance which is an extremely strong ability. Additionally Yuan-ti get some strong innate magic and immunity to poison. Satyr are not considered humanoid (they're fey) so lots of things work differently on them. If your DM allows either of these races they're worth considering, especially if you can reassign the ability scores to better fit your class (or if you're rolling for stats and get lucky). There are also the dragonmarked races. These all give bonus spells to your class list which can be really handy. Otherwise there's warforged. These give bonus AC and a tool and they don't need to eat/sleep/breathe and they're just good overall.

If your DM is a little more conservative and sticking with PHB only and no customization I'd say rock gnome if you're going with artificer and hill dwarf if you're going for druid. Or variant human for either (extra feats are nice)